Clothes pins



Feb. 5, 1963 H. A. FAUTEUX 3,076,243

, CLOTHES PINS Filed April 25, 1960 Invent or 231:. Zmmix' z United States Patent Ofifice 3,076,243 Patented Feb. 5, 1963 3,076,243 CLOTHES PINS Henri Andre Fauteux, R.R. 2, Hawkesbury,

Ontario, Canada Filed Apr. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 24,520 3 Claims. (Cl. 24-139) My invention relates to clothes pins.

In household laundering, indoor drying is frequently carried out, although housewives usually show a preference for outdoor fresh air drying for articles of wash.

One of the reasons advanced by housewives for indoor drying of washed articles is that during inclement weather, such as cold, wet or windy weather they perforce dry the articles of wash in the comparative comfort of indoors, although at the same time commending outdoor fresh air drying whenever possible since fresh air drying gives to the articles of wash a freshness and softness seldom if ever acquired by indoor drying.

There are many forms of conventional clothes pins which are of composite structure, usually with wooden or plastic jaws connected by a spring, and breakage of these jaws is not unknown, so rendering the pin useless.

My problem was to construct an unbreakable clothes pin which could be attached to a moist article of wash while in the laundry room of a home or apartment, and when washed articles are so prepared, they may be then taken outdoors and quickly, efliciently and effectively attached to a clothes line.

Furthermore in fresh air drying the actual hanging of the articles of wash on a clothes line should occupy a minimum of time, and thus the housewife would not be exposed to any prolonged rigours of the weather, as she would ordinarily be, if the clothes were hung on, and attached to, the clothes line by the ordinary conventional forms of clothes pins. This is especially important in winter time in reducing the hardship resulting from working in the warmth of a steam filled room and with the hands in hot water and then moving out into near zero weather.

The clothes pin which I have devised is of a nature that may be readily detached from a clothes line after the wash has dried, and the dried articles with the pins attached thereto can be brought into the laundry where the clothes pins may be detached in a more leisurely manner and in the comparative comfort of the indoors. Here, again, the'advantage of having the articles of wash being connected to the clothes pin and not in engagement with the line, will be most manifest in winter, since the article of wash cannot freeze to the line and if it has frozen fast to the pin, it does not prevent the pin being lifted off the line and taken indoors with the wash and allowed to thaw before being removed from the article of wash.

In solving my problem I have designed, a clothes pin of the hinged variety which would permit of the article of wash being embraced and clamped between a pair of resilient arms and in such a manner that the pull on the washed articles will always be downward during drying. This downward pull of the washed articles on the clothes pin gives an even more intimate contact of the clothes pin with the clothes. Moreover there is no possibility of the washed articles becoming inadvertently detached due to whipping by the wind or from other causes which might result in the tearing of the washed articles or causing falling to the ground, so soiling the wash.

Another feature to which I gave considerable attention was the grip between the clothes pin and the articles of wash. This grip on the washed articles should always be firm but it should be slightly yielding, so that should i the washed articles be subjected to the lashing or whipping of high winds, the arms of the clothes pin will be self adjusting with regard to pressure on the clothes, while at the same time permitting yielding which will not impair the grip of the clothes pin on the washed article, and in this way mutilation of the washed articles is obviated.

Another desirable feature of my new clothes pin is that it may be easily manipulated by the thumb and index finger of a person when attaching the articles of wash to the clothes pin, and'moreover it is such that the clothes pin may then be hung on a clothes line by simply pulling the pin downwardly so that an upper hooked end of the pin will straddle the clothes line.

In detaching a pin from the clothes line it is only necessary to grip the pin between the forefinger and the thumb 1 and to press a hinged arm of the pin towards the body of the pin and then simply lift, and so disengage the pin from the clothes line.

It will be readily understood that when the pin is hung on the clothes line it cannot become inadvertently detached since the clothes line is held captive within the precincts of the hook of the clothes pin, and it is only on a premeditated positive and deliberate action of the housewife in pressing the movable arm towards the fixed arm of the pin, that the pin can be removed from the clothes line. I

While this pin is of a resilient character, this resiliency is not called into effect except when the pin is in actual use and engaged to an article of wash, whereas in ordinary or conventional spring clothes pins the spring is at .all times functioning.

In this new clothes pin the relieving of the strain on the pin eliminates or reduces deterioration of the spring by fatigue, so that the lifetime of the pin is consequently prolonged.

Moreover the present pin is fabricated from lengths of 'round resilient wire so that there are no sharp corners or edges to come in contact with the articles of wash which would tend to tear or mutilate such washed articles. This new pin differs from other forms of resilient pins in that as one arm is fixed or stationary, then the other arm maybe freely rotated about its pivotal connection sequently there is no strain between the pivotal arm and the fixed arm when the pin is not in use.

'So that the nature of my invention may be readily understood I have illustrated an embodiment of the same which I shall describe in detail, but I wish it to be understood that I do'not limit my invention to the exact structure specifically described, but reserve the right to modify the same within the scope of my appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of my clothes pin as seen when open;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation .of the clothes pin with a portion of an article of wash positioned between the open movable arm and the pin;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the clothes .pin

. with an article of wash in clamping position between the two arms of the pin and showing the upper end of. the

pivoted arm laterally positioned just prior to engagement with the upper hooked end of the stationary arm;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of the clothes pin showing an article ,of wash clamped in position and with the upper end of the pivoted arm in locked engagement with the upper hooked end of the stationary arm;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of the clothes pin with an article of wash clamped therein and showing the pin about to be engaged with a clothes line;

FIGURE 6 is a side elevation of the clothes pin with an article of wash clamped therein and showing the clothes pin suspended from a clothes line;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevation of the clothes pin with 3 an article of wash clamped therein showing the pivoted arm flexed prior to the removal of the pin and its attached article of Wash from the clothes line; and

FIGURE 8 is a side elevational detail of a modified form of the pin.

Like characters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, A represents my improved clothes pin comprising a stationary member 10 and a movable member 11 which is pivotally attached to the stationary member of the pin 9.

The members 10 and 11 are formed from a wire rod of resilient material such as steel, and the rod is preferably round or oval in cross section so that there are no sharp corners which could come in contact with the article of wash on which the clothes pins are used.

The rod or strip of Wire from which the member or arm 10 is constructed is bent intermediate of its length forming a U-shaped end 12, and the two legs 13 formed by bending the wire are then formed with laterally outwardly and oppositely disposed arcuate portions, and then the legs 13 converge as shown at 8 forming a constricted passageway between the upper ends of the two legs.

Adjacent this constriction 8 the legs 13 are formed with oppositely disposed laterally projecting arcuate portions 16 and the legs 13 converge appreciably towards their lower ends where the legs terminate in the eyelets 18. These eyelets are spaced apart but are in axial alignment.

The upper end of the arm 10 is now offset forwardly, being bent adjacent the constricted portion 8 and an inverted U-shaped space is formed between the arcuate portions 16 of the legs 13, and the bent portion formed by the arcuate portions 14 of the legs.

This inverted U-shaped space may be slightly tapering at the top end so that, when the arm or member 10 is hooked to a clothes line B, the bent portion of the arm or member 10 will snugly embrace the clothes line and so prevent the arm or member 10 from creeping along the clothes line.

The forwardly bent and offset portion of the member or arm 10 is somewhat heart shaped in front elevation, as will be seen by reference to the numeral 15 in the drawings, and the U-shaped portion 12 at the bottom of: the heart shaped member projects forwardly from the body portion 15.

The member or arm 11 is formed from a single piece of round resilient metal which is bent intermediate of its length, forming two legs which taper slightly towards each other, and the lower ends of these legs terminate in eyelets 21 which are in registering relation to each other and are designed to be located between the eyelets 18 of the member or arm 10; The upper end 19 of the member or arm 10 is offset rearwardly and is looped.

A pin 9 passes through the registering eyelets 21 and 18to pivotally secure the member or arm 11 to the member or arm 10, and the allowance between the pin and the eyelets 18 and 21 is such that a slight axial movement of the eyelets is permissible and may even be preferable since, when an article of wash is located between the arms 10 and 11, there will be a slight yielding of the legs 13 and the legs 20, and in the event of an article of wash working between these legs, the yielding of the legs will prevent any fraying or deterioration of the article of wash taking place.

This manner of connecting the arms or members 10 or 11 by the pin 9 and allowing a permissible movement between the pin 9 and the eyelets with which it engages, will provide for an automatic adjustment of the arms or members 10 and 11 relatively to each other, and further the member or arm 11 is capable of being rotated through an angle of 360 relatively to the arm or member 10.

When the pin is in use, the offset looped end 19 of the arm 11 is disengaged from the U-shaped projection 12 on the lower end of the skeleton heart shaped portion 15 of the arm 10 by pressing the member 11 towards the member 10, and then moving the upper end of the arm or member 11 laterally so that the arm 11 may be rotated forwardly as shown in FIGURE 2, thus permitting of an article of wash being positioned to straddle the arm or member 11. It Will be seen by reference to FIGURE 2 that the article of wash is located adjacent the hinged portion of the arm 11.

The member or arm 11 is now rotated into the position shown in FIGURE 3 in which the looped end 19 of this arm is pressed laterally to clear the overhanging U-shaped end 12 of the skeleton head 15 of the arm 10, and as soon as the looped end 19 passes the U-shaped end 12, then the member 11 is permitted to move laterally to underlie the end 12 of the skeleton head 15.

A portion of an article of wash on the arm 11 is now firmly clamped between the two arms 10 and 11. The user of clothes pin may perform this function or preliminary task of afiixing the clothes pins A to the several articles of wash in the laundry room, and when this has been accomplished the articles of wash are carried out into the open air and the clothes pins A may then be engaged to the clothes line B by simply engaging or resting the upper offset end of the arm 10 on the clothes line, and the user gives the clothes pin a downward pull, thereby moving the arm 11 forwardly towards the arm 10, when the clothes line B will slip into the tapered inverted U formed on the upper end of the arm 10.

When the wash is dried, or if it is desirable to take it in to the laundry even before it is dried, such as if it becomes frozen, then the user of the pin simply grips the clothes pin A between her thumb and index finger of one hand, holding the wash with the other hand, and the user then presses the pivoted member or arm 11 towards the arm or member 10 as shown in FIGURE 7, whereupon the clothes pin may be pushed upwardly to disengage the hooked end of the arm 10 from the clothes line B.

The articles of wash, as they are removed from the clothes line B, may be placed in a laundry basket and subsequently be brought indoors where the housewife can conveniently and in comparative comfort disengage the several clothes pins from the articles of wash. If the articles of wash are frozen they may then be hung in the laundry until they are thawed out, when the clothes pins may be detached from the articles of wash.

In the modified form of the invention shown in FIG- URE 8, the pin A is in all respects constructed as already described having a main body arm 10 with hooked upper end 12 for engagement over a clothes line B and an intermediate pivoted arm 11 with offset upper end 19 and wherein the main body arm consists of a spaced pair of legs 13 with a constricted spacing or neck 8 at the upper end and outwardly bulging arcuate portions 16 therebelow. The variation in this form lies in the provision of a wire ring or other keeper 21 that embraces the spaced pair of legs 13 and is slidable longitudinally of the member 10. When the ring 21 is positioned at the constricted neck 8 near the top of the member 10 it lies clear of the upper end of the pivoted arm 11 and is normally there retained against accidental dislodgement by the oppositely extending arcuate bulges 16 imrnediately therebelow. The pin can therefore function in the same manner as already described.

When desired, however, the keeper 21 may be slipped down along the bowed legs of the member 19 until it encircles the upper end 19 of the pivoted arm 11 to hold the latter captive, thereby allowing an article of wash to be secured in clamped position between either side of the main arm 10 and the pivoted arm 11, with the pivoted arm so locked by the slidably releasable ring or keeper 21. When the pin is so used, it will be noted that outward bulge of the legs 13, as well as the resiliency of the pivoted arm whose free end is compressibly bent inwards above the engaged portion of the article of wash, both serve to hold the keeper ring against unwanted movement.

Furthermore, when the keeper 21 is employed to hold the jaws of the pin closed in article gripping engagement, the line-engaging hook 12 is clear at all times thereby allowing the same to be applied to or removed from the line without any flexing or relative manipulation of the pin parts.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be manifest that a clothes pin is provided that will fulfil all the necessary requirements of such a device, but as many changes could be made in the above description and many apparently widely different embodiments of the invention may be constructed within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all matters contained in the said accompanying specification and drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitative or restrictive sense.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A clothes pin comprising a pair of members, one being formed of a single piece of resilient wire having a U-bend intermediate of its length forming two spaced legs, the closed end of the U being offset in inverted U-shape with the legs adjacent the U-bend offset laterally, forming oppositely disposed arcuate portions with the legs converging above the arcuate portions to provide a constriction between the legs, the portion of the legs between the lower ends and the constriction being ofiset laterally to provide oppositely disposed arcuate portions with the legs converging toward their lower ends, the other member being formed of resilient wire having a U-bend intermediate of its length to provide two legs converging slightly at their lower ends, the upper U-bent end of the second member being offset to engage and underlie the inverted U-shaped portion of the first member, the ends of the legs of the second member lying between the ends of the legs of the first member, all four legs near their ends lying in substantially a common plane, and means pivotally connecting the ends of the two pairs of legs.

2. The clothes pin claimed in claim 1 in which the free ends of the legs of the two members terminate in eyelets arranged in axial alignment, and in which said means is a pin engaging the aligned eyelets and permitting rotation of the second member through 360.

3. Theclothcs pin claimed in claim 2 in which the upper U-bent end of the second member is manually deflectable laterally against the resiliency of the member to permit the said U-bent end to be disengaged from the oifset and inverted U-shaped end of the first member, and permit the said U-bent end of said second member to resiliently re-engage the offset and inverted U-shaped end of the first member when manual force in removed from the second member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 633,981 Bergeron Oct. 3, 1899 690,236 Colwell Dec. 31, 1901 1,355,376 Arseneau Oct. 1.2, 1920 1,468,543 Pilkington Sept. 18, 1923' 1,780,880 Johnson Nov. 4, 1930 1,878,497 Lehr Sept. 20, 1932 2,053,169 Stork Sept. 1, 1936 2,627,095 Palmieri Feb. 3, 1953 2,668,339 Matta Feb. 9, 1954 

1. A CLOTHES PIN COMPRISING A PAIR OF MEMBERS, ONE BEING FORMED OF A SINGLE PIECE OF RESILIENT WIRE HAVING A U-BEND INTERMEDIATE OF ITS LENGTH FORMING TWO SPACED LEGS, THE CLOSED END OF THE U BEING OFFSET IN INVERTED U-SHAPE WITH THE LEGS ADJACENT THE U-BEND OFFSET LATERALLY, FORMING OPPOSITELY DISPOSED ARCUATE PORTIONS WITH THE LEGS CONVERGING ABOUT THE ARCUATE PORTIONS TO PROVIDE A CONSTRICTION BETWEEN THE LEGS, THE PORTION OF THE LEGS BETWEEN THE LOWER ENDS AND THE CONSTRICTION BEING OFFSET LATERALLY TO PROVIDE OPPOSITELY DISPOSED ARCUATE PORTIONS WITH THE LEGS CONVERGING TOWARD THEIR LOWER ENDS, THE OTHER MEMBER BEING FORMED OF RESILIENT WIRE HAVING A U-BEND INTERMEDIATE OF ITS LENGTH TO PROVIDE TWO LEGS CONVERGING SLIGHTLY AT THEIR LOWER ENDS, THE UPPER U-BENT END OF THE SECOND MEMBER BEING OFFSET TO ENGAGE AND UNDERLIE THE INVERTED U-SHAPED PORTION OF THE FIRST MEMBER, THE ENDS OF THE LEGS OF THE SECOND MEMBER LYING BETWEEN THE ENDS OF THE LEGS OF THE FIRST MEMBER, ALL FOUR LEGS NEAR THEIR ENDS LYING IN SUBSTANTIALLY A COMMON PLANE, AND MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE ENDS OF THE TWO PAIRS OF LEGS. 